Sollux x Reader - Tea with honey
by e-bartkowiak
Summary: One Shot - Tea with honey: "Sol, did you hear me? She's going to come here every three wweeks." He poked the back of my head. "So-ol?" He sang and did it again. "Yeah, whatever." I waved my hand as if I was chasing away a fly. "Jutht tell her to not bother me." Sequel - Gingerbread: summary is inside.
1. Tea with Honey (one shot)

I skillfully typed code of my newest virus, sitting in my room. It was messy and dark, with colorful cables, computer parts, mismatched clothes and videogames laying all around and the only sources of light in form of glowing monitor screen and a beam coming through a slightly opened door. Music was playing from big, black and yellow headphones, so I wouldn't have to hear my fishy flatmate.

"Get out, Eridan." I said as I noticed that the beam from the door widened; that was a sure sign that he came inside. I'd never closed it, because he would come in anyway and a sudden change in lighting would temporary blind me.

"Hey, Sol." I could feel that he was standing right behind my swivel chair, but my gaze was still fixed on the monitor screen, my fingers still typing. "My younger cousin, [Name], wwill come day after tomorroww and she wwill stay for three days," he said, but stayed behind me. He was waiting on my reaction, any reaction, but I'd already pushed his presence into dark corner of my mind. "Sol, did you hear me? She's going to come here every three wweeks." He poked the back of my head. "So-ol?" He sang and did it again.

"Yeah, whatever." I waved my hand as if I was chasing away a fly. "Jutht tell her to not bother me." Who was I kidding? She probably would be as fishy as Eridan was.

* * *

My stomach growled. I wouldn't mind if it wasn't tenth time in last quarter. I saved the program I was working on and I got up from the hair and outside my room. Eridan wasn't in his usual spot in front of the TV and I didn't want to know where he was, but I found a woman in our kitchen. She was peeling potatoes and the scent of strew made my stomach growl once again.

"Oh." She looked up at me. "Hello Sollux." She smiled.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" I was hungry and I didn't have the slightest desire to beat around the bush. At first she looked surprised, but then she chuckled a little and calmly returned to peeling.

"I'm [Name], Eridan's cousin. I came this morning and was introduced to you, but apparently you didn't notice." She threw potato into the pot that stood in sink.

"But that doethn't anthwer my thecond quethtion." I wiped away a drop of water that landed on my cheek. I had to admit that she looked better than I thought she would. Well, I expected to see a female version of Eridan, so anything would be better.

"I'm cooking," she said with a little mirth in her voice.

"Why?" I asked, angry at my stomach which decided to growl again. I was hungry and that delicious aroma wasn't helping at all.

"Because neither of you can." She laughed. "Eridan told me something about your diet and I swear you're going to eat properly when I'm around."

"Wait, that's for me too?" I pointed at steaming pot.

"Yes."

* * *

"For you." [Name] placed a mug on my desk. I glanced at it, I would never admit it aloud, but it was my favorite, with fat bee on top of yellow flower.

"What ith it?" I asked, not even looking at her.

"Tea. I'm going to do the laundry; do you have anything to wash?"

"I don't know, probably everything." I circled my hand above my head, showing whole room.

"Ok," she said as happily as ever and started to gather all my clothes, humming quietly.

"Why are you doing all of thith?" I asked some time later, when she wanted to go outside with a pile of my dirty clothes. That wasn't the first time she'd done that.

"Didn't Eridan tell you? I don't have to pay for staying here, but instead of that I take care of you two." She chuckled at my dumbfounded expression. He probably had told me, but I hadn't listened. "Drink your tea before it gets cold, I think you will like it." She sent me a warm smile and left, leaving behind just a narrow crack in the door.

I turned around, back to my desk and looked at the steaming mug. I picked it up to my nose and smiled as I smelled a sweet scent of honey.

* * *

"What you are doing?" [Name] asked, placing a mug on my desk and leaning against the back of my chair.

"Writing a program." I answered shortly.

"I can see that," she laughed shortly and leaned closer to have better look at the script, "but what program?"

I turned my head to look at her. "You're familiar with programming?" I asked skeptically.

"Not really," she admitted, "but I can see that here you ask user about confirmation." She pointed to the right place on the screen. "Here, you send this program to other program." I looked at her, I was surprised: I didn't expect her to have the slightest idea about programming. "I don't know what it's doing, but it's probably doing it a few of times, because here's a loop. And this…" She leaned even closer to see what I typed and her [color] hair brushed my nose. She smelled nice. Like the tea she had been giving me.

"Thanks." She chuckled and looked at me. Our faces here just inches away, but she didn't seemed to be affected by that.

"What?" I didn't understand.

"You said I smell nice. Thank you." She looked back at the screen. "You play… Noooo." She placed her hand on mine, the one that held mouse and forced me to click on the game that worked in background. "Minecraft."

* * *

"Creepers! No! No! NO! I died. I'm not going there again." [Name] leaned against my back. We were sitting on the floor in my room, our backs to each other, playing Minecraft on our laptops.

"You're hopeleth [Name], you thould learn from the betht." I chuckled as I killed some more zombies.

"Shut up Captor. Get mushrooms I found and bring them to our house. I'm going to build a mushroom farm!" She sang and deprived me of her warmth on my back.

"Another one?!" I asked, collecting her stuff. "We already have cows, pumpkins, sugar and eggs! Do we really need more food?"

"Yes," she said entirely serious. "How should it look like?" That question was directed to no one in particular, but I decided to answer anyway.

"Like a penith." The silence filled my room; it was interrupted only by my quiet clicking.

"Ok." [Name] started clicking once again. "Pink wool. Pink wool. I need a lot of pink wool."

"What? You're theriouth?" I paused my game and turned around. [Name] was shaving pink sheep. "No!" I grabbed her from behind and pulled her away from her laptop. "You're not building a penith!"

"Yes, I am!" [Name] laughed and hit my head with her wireless mouse. "We are going to have huge dick next to our home!" Laughing, she continued hitting my head, knocking off my glasses in process.

"You can build anything." I grabbed her wrists and forced them to the floor. "You're in the middle of building an incredible city and you want to screw it up with a pink dick?" I was partly laying on her, pinning her to hardwood floor with my own weight.

"Yes." She was still chuckling. "You suggested it yourself, and it's going to be a bigger dick than you are."

"Are you calling me a dick?" I asked quietly, leaning closer. I could feel her breath on my lips and it tasted like tea.

"[Name], wwe are out of… Captor!" Eridan grabbed my collar, roughly pulled me up and knocked to the wall. "I kneww it!"

"Eridan!" [Name] stopped him before he punched me right in my nose. "Don't worry: we were playing." She slightly hung on his arm that pressed me to the wall.

"Yeth, fithhead. Nothing bad…" I stopped when I noticed [Name]'s look that literally meant 'shut up'.

"You said that we are out of something Eridan." [Name] said in completely calm voice.

"Shampoo. Wwe are out of shampoo," he said quietly, his eyes still fixated on my.

"I'll go buy some." [Name] kissed his cheek. "Don't hurt each other." She placed her hand on Eridan's and, bringing it down, she kissed my cheek too. "I'll be right back." With those words, she left, humming the same song as always.

I turned my head back to Eridan only to found his face just an itch away. It wasn't as pleasant as it was with his cousin.

"You hurt her, and I wwill kill you, bring you back to life and kill you again."

* * *

"What ith that thong you're alwayth humming?" I asked [Name] as she finished doing the dishes.

"This one?" She hummed it, wiping her hands.

"Yeth, that one," I confirmed, leaning against the counter.

"Well, it's a song I heard in a film, I liked it so much that I learned it." She took a plastic cup from the cupboard and placed it upside-down next to me. "And now I'm going to torture you with my singing." She clapped two times. Patted the bottom of the cup three times. Clapped. Moved the cup. Clapped again. Picked it up and hit its opening with an open hand. Hit its bottom against the counter. Moved it to the other hand. Patted the counter and placed cup on it. And she repeated all those moves, again and again. Then she started to sing.

"I've got my ticked for the long way 'round. Two bottle whiskey for the way." She definitely wasn't best singer, but she wasn't hurting my ears that bad. "And I sure would like some sweet company and I'm leaving tomorrow. What do you say?" She looked up at me with a smirk, gaining a smirk from me. "When I'm gone. When I'm gone. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You gonna miss me by my hair. You gonna miss me everywhere, oh. You gonna miss me when I'm gone."

I leaned closer and quieted her with a kiss. A sweet, honey and tea flavored kiss. "Don't you ever thing again," I said when we separated. "You can hum it ath much ath you want, but don't thing." I wrapped my arms around her.

She chuckled. "You have no idea how many people have already told me that." She giggled, grabbed my collar and pulled me down, for another kiss.

* * *

Music was blasting into my ears. I was programming another virus. With the exception of the weak glow of the monitor, my room was pitch black. My lean fingers were quickly dancing across the keyboard. I didn't even see symbols in this weak lightning, but I didn't have to. I was writing one program after another.

I finally realized that I was thirsty and, out of habit, I reached for a mug with fat bee that stood beside monitor. I leaned back and froze as the realization hit me like a rushing train. It was empty. Cold and empty. Just like yesterday. Just like the day before, and the day before that.

I angrily threw it to the side, sure that my heart looked like the now shattered porcelain. I hid my face in my hands and let my tears flow. It hurt. It hurt so much. No wonder I tried to close it, forget about it by drowning myself in programming. I looked up at the monitor. I could barely see because of all that water in my eyes. With a few, quick clicks I found what I'd been looking for: an audio file. I hovered my pointer over it and, after a short while of hesitation, I double-clicked it. Soon my ears were filled with clapping, patting, and oh so much familiar melody.

"When I'm gone. When I'm gone. You gonna miss me when I'm gone." Those words were a prediction - a prediction and a curse that would hunt me.

"Why?" I asked in hoarse voice, looking up at the picture of me and [Name]. "I underthtand that your heart wath weak, but why? Why? WHY!?" I buried my head in my hands once again. "Why did you decide to undergo the operation? And die on the table." I cracked, leaned against the back of my chair and soundlessly sang, "I'm gonna miss you when you're gone".


	2. Gingerbread 1 (sequel)

A/N: Ok, so it was in my computer for some time and I thought I could put it here. It's more like a sequel to the Tea with Honey, not next chapter.

Summary: Sollux is depressed after a death of his girlfriend and Eridan's cousin, [Name]. But the old [Name] takes a role of a guardian angel, while a new [Name] appreas in the programer's live.

By the way, it's humanstuck - trolls and Alternia had never existed and all characters are humans.

* * *

_[Name] to Eridan_

* * *

_Hello Eri,_

_don't freak out, I sent this message a week before my operation and apparently I didn't make it trough… Yeah, sorry. That was a bad joke._

_I have a favor to ask you, please keep a look at Sol. If he's fine, closes himself in his dark room not more than usually, eats as irregularly and unhealthy as always, then go to this email address - please. read. this. sollux gmail. com – password: '[Name]' and delete the only message you will find there, and do this before [date, a month after the operation] otherwise it will be send._

_But if he gets dangerously depressed, please take at least a basic care of him and do nothing with that account._

_Thank you._

_I'm sorry._

_Your favorite cousin,_

_[Name]._

* * *

Eridan took a big, plastic cup from a cupboard and placed it on a countertop, next to two plates with sandwiches he had just made. Then he took a bottle of multivitamin juice from a fridge and filled the cup almost to the rim. He took it alongside with one of plates and went to Sollux's room. Opening the door with his elbow he came inside without a word. It was dark, airless and stunk of sweat. Eridan had been trying opening the windows few times, but Sollux'd been always immediately standing up from his swivel chair and lifelessly closing it back.

Walking over wires and computer parts which were in exactly the same places as yesterday, day before and three weeks ago, Eridan approached his flatemate's desk. He didn't even notice his presence. Sollux's dim eyes were fixated on a barely glowing screen, a yellow-black headphones, which stopped playing music a long time ago, covered his ears and his frightfully thin fingers skillfully danced across a keyboard. Next to this constantly clicking device stood a plate with a sandwich - Sollux'd taken a bite or two, but it pretty much started to live with it's own life. At least a tall, plastic cup was empty. Eridan placed the new portion of food on the desk and took the headphones from Sollux's head, curious about his ears condition. His jaw dropped when he noticed they were completely red and covered with small scabs.

"I'm taking them" he said, unplugging the wire. Sollux didn't react in any way and that was what always scared Eridan. Sollux'd tended to ignore him, but not when he messed with his things. "You should eat something, Sol", Eridan said quietly, not sure if Sollux even heard him, took the leftovers and went outside. Closing the door, he sighed heavily. Tomorrow. [Name]'s message was meant to be sent tomorrow. Whatever it was, he hoped it would bring Solux back to life.


	3. Gingerbread 2

A sound of incoming message woke Sollux up. He slowly opened his eyes and equally slow blinked few times to force them to focus again. Only then he lifted his head. He'd been sleeping at his desk with a keyboard as a pillow. He reached to his cheek. Yes, he could clearly feel stamped cavities and convexity. Normally he would beat himself over his own silliness, but now he didn't care at all.

Sollux glanced at the screen – in the left down corner popped up a small frame. An email without title, but from a strange address: please. read. this. sollux gmail. com. He lifelessly reached for a mouse, hovered its pointer over the frame and clicked it. He closed eyes as soon as a brightness of a white window hit them. Opening them back, he shock his head a little - another headache was coming. Lately his head had hurt all the time. He looked at this short message and gasped after first, few words.

* * *

_Hello Sol,_

_it's [Name], sorry for this little conspiracy, but I didn't want you to find this message earlier._

_I have a little… well, big quest for you and I hope you will take this challenge, otherwise we are all doomed._

_So, the first task:_

_- wake up Eridan and ask him to cook you something good;_

_- go take a warm shower (don't forget to change your clothes again);_

_- eat what Eridan cooked;_

_- download this file [link];_

_I love you,_

_[Name]._

* * *

Sollux sat there for a while with his eyes glued to those four last words and he did something he wasn't sure he was still able to - he slightly lifted corners of his lips as forgotten, but so desired warmth ignited inside his chest. But it faded as quickly at it appeared. Message from [Name] didn't change the fact that she wasn't beside him, he still couldn't hear her, hug her, kiss her and beat her ass in some video games.

He stood up anyway, deciding to fulfill girlfriend's last wish. He wobbled when blood suddenly left his head and caught his deck. He stood like that for a minute or two, until his sore brain got it's portion of oxygen and carefully went outside his room.

Corridor was dim and slightly pink from the light of rising the sun - still too bright for Sollux. Leaning against the walls he approached door to Eridan's bedroom and grabbed the handle. He looked at it, confused when it didn't go down and pushed it again using his whole bodyweight. When he finally entered, he walked to his flatmate's bed and stood there, staring at this fishy face and not sure how to wake him up. Should he call his name? Grab his nose? Bitch slap him? Problem slowed itself when Eridan turned his head toward Sollux and opened his eyes.

"Aaa!" he screamed and jumped to run away, but tangled himself into beddings and fell on the other side of the bed with muffed 'ouch'. Two months earlier Sollux would laugh his head off, but now he just quietly watched as Eridan's head emerged from under the blanket. "Sollux!" He stood up. "Don't scare me like that! I thought it was the Death!" Irritated, he massaged the bridge of his nose. "Wwhat do you wwant?"

"Eat," Sollux answered slowly.

"Wwhat?" Eridan asked again, placing glasses on his nose.

"Thomething to eat," Sollux repeated with emotionless voice and face. "[Name] wantth me to athk you to make me thomething to eat." Eridan clearly wanted to say something, but then he sighed and his expression calmed.

"I'll dress myself and make something for you," he finally said, opening his wardrobe. With the corner of his eyes, he watched as Sollux left his room.

Sollux, slightly more stable then earlier, returned to his own bedroom and opened his wardrobe. He pulled out some random clothes and went to the bathroom, stripped himself and stepped into the shower. After diligently scrubbing his whole body he dried himself with a first towel he spotted and dressed himself in new set of clothes.

When he walked into the kitchen Eridan, without a word, pointed at the tabletop where were a plate with two sandwiches and a cup of juice. Sollux sat on a stool, grabbed one sandwich and bit it, straining all muscles of the jaw. He chew it and chew until it turned into a pulp, only then he swallow it with a bit of difficulty. He took another bite and repeated all process, again and again.

When he was finally done with his meal, the sun was already high above the horizon. Leaving the plate and the cup on the table, he went back to his bedroom - it was time for the last point of his first task.

* * *

A/N: Hands up who smiled at '_we are all doomed'._


End file.
